In a message to the 15,000 persons attending the Taipei Freedom Day rally. President Chiang Kai-shek said the United Nations had destroyed its own Charter by admitting the Chinese Communists.
"The United Nations has ignored righteousness and justice and has bowed to evil and submitted to violence," he said. "Consequently, in the international scene there is no distinguishing between right and wrong or between good and bad; and the free world is so confused that friend cannot be identified from foe and advantage cannot be differentiated from disadvantage."
President Chiang said that "Ours is the solemn responsibility of safeguarding human rights. We must therefore awaken all the freedom-loving peoples of the world and see that they really know the Communists, and especially the instinctual viciousness and atrocity committing cruelty of the Maoists, so that no one may be deceived by their propaganda trickery of twisting wrong to look like right, disguising enemy as friend and presenting black as white."
Urging the free world to unite in common struggle against the Maoists, the President said the Republic of China continues to uphold the spirit of the U.N. Charter and will never compromise with evil.
"We are dedicated," he said, "to an alliance of all the people of the world who are determined to maintain justice despite contrary pressures together with the silent majority of righteousness. We shall unite, too, with the enslaved people behind the Iron Curtain who thirst for freedom in a common struggle to form a mainstream current of the 1970s in order to safeguard human freedom, eliminate the surging evil of Communism and open a glorious century of freedom for mankind and the world."
Vice President and Premier C. K. Yen was the principal speaker at the rally. "Based on our many years of anti-Communist experience," he said, "we know that in dealing with the Communists we must at least firmly adhere to the following three principles. First, a line must be drawn clearly between us and the Communists. Second, we must have the actual capability to support ourselves. In any struggle with the Communists, we must strengthen ourselves constantly and be united at all times. Third, our internal unity must be preserved. In accordance with Lenin's doctrines, the Communists have become skillful in utilizing all contradictions manifested by their opponents. The free world therefore must be constantly on its guard.
"If all the free world can persist in these three principles, fight together on the political, cultural, economic and other fronts, and direct stunning blows upon the Communists in the final decisive battle, we can predict that our anti-Communist war will ultimately be crowned with success and victory."
Among foreign guests who came for Freedom Day, which marks the decision of 21,000 Chinese and Korean Communists taken prisoner by United Nations forces in the Korean War to choose freedom, was Senator James L. Buckley of New York. He was one of the speakers at the rally.
Senator Buckley said the Republic of China was not defeated at the United Nations. It was the U.N. itself, he said, which suffered a "crushing defeat." Today, the Republic of China stands "vigorous and tall," I said the American conservative leader. "From this time forward, the world must see you for what you are, a vibrant, dedicated force holding high the torch of freedom not just for your own interest in the shadows of that greatest of all tyrannies, Communism."
President Nixon will not reach any agreement with Chou En-lai to recognize the Chinese Communist regime, said Buckley, who is one of the Congressional leaders for whom the White House welcome mat is always out.
Another Freedom Day guest was Patrick Walsh, secretary-general of the Canadian chapter of the World Anti-Communist League. He said Peiping is trying to turn the province of Quebec into another Albania. Canadians are becoming aware of Red subversion and conspiracy, however, and are likely to defeat the September re-election bid of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who recognized Peiping, Walsh said.
Moslems held a special prayer service at the Taipei Mosque to support the international observance of Freedom Day. More than 300 attended the hour's service led by Chao Ming-yan, acting president of the Chinese Moslem Association.
Foreign Minister Chow Shu-kai returned from a round-the-world trip that took him to Japan, the United States, Liberia, Spain, the Vatican, Greece, Thailand and the Philippines. He conferred with Prime Minister Eisaku Sato in Japan and with Secretary of State William Rogers and Henry Kissinger in the United States.
The ROC's foreign policy will be pragmatic and flexible but without loss of dignity or sacrifice of principle, he said.
Nobusuki Kishi, the former prime minister of Japan and brother of Prime Minister Eisaku Sato, came to Taipei for a two-day visit. He said the close and friendly relations between Japan and the Republic of China will never be suspended or compromised. He conferred with President Chiang Kai-shek, Vice President C. K. Yen, Vice Premier Chiang Ching-kuo and other top government leaders.
Any change in relationship with the Chinese Communists depends on the attitude of Peiping, he said. The Chinese Communists have attached many conditions to the normalization of Japanese relations, he added, and it is doubtful that these conditions can be accepted.
Kishi said that no advocate of a complete change in Sino-Japanese relations has any chance of succeeding Prime Minister Sato, who is due to retire this year.
In Tokyo, Prime Minister Sato, who is expected to give way to Foreign Minister Takeo Fukuda, said Japan is concerned about the security of Taiwan and South Korea "because it is closely related to Japan's security. "
A group of four Japanese press leaders led by Ryusuke Negishi, publisher of a weekly, came to Taiwan to report on political and economic conditions. Negishi said the people of Japan have trouble getting objective information about the Republic of China be cause of leftist infiltration of Japanese mass communications media.
Japanese Ambassador Osamu Itagaki left for home and retirement after two years and eight months in Taipei. He said Japan cannot scrap the peace treaty with the Republic of China as the price of improved relations with Peiping. It will be difficult, he added, to normalize the relationship with the Chinese Communists.
Japan does not accept "two Chinas," he said, and believes that the Chinese problem eventually will be settled by the Chinese people themselves without outside interference.
"Under the enlightened leadership of President Chiang Kai-shek," Ambassador Itagaki declared, "the Republic of China has broken through a difficult situation and gone on to further development."
Japan's new ambassador will be Atushi Uyama, a career diplomat since 1937 and graduate of Tokyo University. He has been ambassador to India and is 59 years old.
Several U.S. Congressmen were among the month's visitors.
Cornelius E. Gallagher, a Democrat from New Jersey, said the United States will continue to honor its commitments to the Republic of China. He is the convenor of the Asian-Pacific Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
These assurances were echoed by Otto E. Passman, chairman of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. He said the United States has never reneged on treaty commitments.
Other visiting members of the House of Representatives were Robert L. Leggett of California, William A. Barrett of Pennsylvania and David N. Henderson of North Carolina.
Ambassador Liu Chieh, the Republic of China's representative at the United Nations at the time of withdrawal, returned home on his way to the Philippines to take up his new ambassadorial post. The U.N. is morally bankrupt, he said, but will not disintegrate within the foreseeable future, barring some earthshaking occurrence. The Republic of China should look forward, not backward, he declared, and forget about the U.N.
Rear Admiral Liu Hoh-tu, retired, took over as information chief and spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He formerly was spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense and ambassador to Sierra Leone. A native of Kiangsu, he was graduated from the Chinese Naval Academy and is 57 years old.
A group of U.S. Congressional aides visiting the Republic of China said the United Nations had become a "farce" as a result of expelling "a faithful founding member." The aides said they had been "deeply impressed with the economic development on Taiwan and more importantly with the spirit and energy of the free Chinese people."
The statement promised the aides would urge President Nixon to take up the mainland's export of drugs when he visits Peiping.
David N. Rowe, China scholar and professor of international relations at Yale, returned to the United States after a two-week visit to Taiwan. He expressed the opinion that nothing concrete would come of Nixon's visit to the Chinese mainland. "Agreements with the Communists are not worth the paper they are written on," he said. He criticized the United States for not having tried hard enough to keep the Republic of China in the United Nations.
Other prominent visitors were U.S. Senator Stuart Symington of Missouri and Chief Justice of the South Vietnam Supreme Court Tran Van Linh.
The Foreign Ministry announced suspension of diplomatic relations with Cyprus and closing of the embassy in Nicosia.
President Chiang Kai-shek, acting under constitutional provisions, convened the fifth session of the National Assembly. Assemblymen decided even before the February 20 opening that President Chiang would have to be drafted for his fifth consecutive term as president of the Republic. The Assembly also was expected to amend the Constitution to provide for election of new blood to parliament, which includes Legislative Yuan, Control Yuan and National Assembly.
Taiwan investments soared to a record US$163 million in 1971. The increase was 17 per cent. Of the 328 projects, 130 were new and 198 represented additional capital. US$125 million came from foreigners and US$38 million from overseas Chinese. Another year of increase was predicted by the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Investment Screening Committee.
Red tape is to be reduced to the minimum, MOEA said, and approvals given to all except investments which might damage domestic industry or imperil ROC economic growth. Approval was given a joint investment of Corning National Corporation of the United States and. Iwakai Glass Company of Japan in a Taoyuan plant to make television picture tubes. Capital will be at least US$8 million and possibly as much as US $12 million with annual exports of US$10 million.
Government sources suggested that more private Japanese investment would be sought. Incentives may include approval for limited sale of products in the Taiwan market.
Trade topped the US$4 billion mark in 1971 for the first time. Volume was US$4,085 million, only about US$200 million behind the estimate for the vast Chinese mainland. Exports were more than US$2,135 million and imports exceeded US$1,949 million.
The United States was the leading partner at US$1,477 million. The favorable balance was US$290 million. Japanese trade ranked second at US$1,034 million with a deficit exceeding US$500 million. West Germany came third at US$170 million slightly in Taiwan's favor.
Textiles paced exports at US$170 million, including garments, followed by electrical apparatus at US$276 million and canned foods at US$151 million.
Finance Minister K. T. Li said trade with Japan has remained "active and steady" despite the upward valuation of the Japanese yen and downward devaluation of the Taiwan dollar (in company with its U.S. counterpart). A slight dip in exports to Japan toward the end of 1971 resulted from typhoon damage and not the monetary changes, he said.
Economic Affairs Minister Y. S. Sun said that 1972 would be crucial for Taiwan's trade and that "utmost efforts" would be exerted to crush Chinese Communist endeavors to isolate the Republic of China diplomatically and commercially. The government will seek new markets and will trade with all countries except enemy states, he said.
Sun I-shuan, director of the Central Trust of China, predicted export growth of 30 to 35 per cent for this year.
Taiwan's three export processing zones will have 411 factories by 1975, according to Wu Mei-tsun, director of the Kaohsiung Export Processing Zone administration. KEPZ has 161 plants in production. Nantzu, also at Kaohsiung, will have 200 plants and the Taichung zone 50. Capitalization will reach US$84 million, exports US$400 million annually and employment 100,000.
KEPZ exports passed the US$150 million mark last year. The original estimate of capital was US$18 million. Investment now stands at US$46 million. The zone has become something of a tourist attraction. Nearly 90,000 visitors have paid visits in the last five years, 19,000 of them in 1971.
The China Steel Trading Corporation hopes to sell 100,000 metric tons of iron and steel products to the United States in 1972. Exports last year totaled 20,000 tons, mostly to Southeast Asia. Sales to the United States through the Sino-American Universal Trading Company of New York will include angle bars, channel iron and iron wire. Fan Ching, general manager of CSTC, described the United States as a huge potential market for Taiwan iron and steel output.
Tariffs were lowered on 15 imports. Powdered milk was cut from 26 to 22 per cent and tractors from 13 to 7 per cent. Also down were auto parts, patent medicines and antibiotics.
Government is planning a joint committee to assume overall responsibility for economic and technical cooperation with countries which do not have diplomatic relations with the Republic of China.
Economic growth was 11.4 per cent in 1971 with the gross national product going over the US$6 billion mark. Per capita income reached US$329. Industry supplied 34.2 per cent of the GNP, while agriculture's share declined to 17.6 per cent.
For the decade of the 1960s, economic advance averaged 9.9 per cent annually. Prices were stable. The wholesale price index rose by only 1.8 annually and the retail price index by 3.4 per cent annually. Agriculture grew by 5.2 per cent a year and industry by 16.1 per cent. Export gains averaged 25 per cent and import growth 20 per cent. Investment from domestic savings rose from 60 to 95 per cent during the period.
Vice President and Premier C. K. Yen told the nation that the government would show flexibility with out retreating from inflexible national goals. He was reporting to a meeting of 200 civic leaders. Inflexible, he said, would be the integrity of the national territory and sovereignty and the upholding of international justice.
U.S. Ambassador Walter P. McConaughy, taking note of last year's trade gains, predicted that Taiwan's commerce may exceed that of the Chinese mainland by US$1 billion within two years. The margin will be even larger in 1975, he added.
Approval of the Executive Yuan (Cabinet) was given a 10-year plan for economic modernization. Annual goals include economic growth of 8.5 per cent, 180,000 new jobs, manufacturing growth of 11.5 per cent, agriculture growth of 3.5 per cent, increase of 11.9 per cent in power generation and 10.2 per cent in communications and transportation, export growth of 12.1 per cent and import growth of 11.9 per cent. Per capita income is expected to surpass the US$500 mark by 1980.
Only three major industrial products failed to register increases in 1971. These were aluminum ingots, unchanged at 27,000 metric tons; chemical fertilizer, down 4.8 per cent at 887,000 metric tons; and coal, down 5.8 per cent at 4,215,000 metric tons.
These were the gainers:
— Garments, 27,410,000 dozen, up 58.5 per cent.
— Synthetic fibers, 102,000 metric tons, up 55.6 per cent.
— Plastic products, 323,000 metric tons, up 50.9 per cent.
— Television sets, 1,821,000 units, up 45.2 per cent.
— Plywood, 228,000,000 square meters, up 35.7 per cent.
— Machinery parts, 229,000 metric tons, up 31.6 per cent.
— Automobiles, 10,250 units, up 30.2 per cent.
— Ships, 258,000 tons, up 25.9 per cent.
— Plastic powder, 132,000 metric tons, up 23.4 per cent.
— Machine tools, 25,465 sets, up 21.6 per cent.
— Cotton yarn, 104,000 metric tons, up 20.9 per cent.
— Synthetic fiber textiles, 139,875,000 meters, up 19.4 per cent.
— Cement, 5,110,000 metric tons, up 18.7 per cent.
— Cotton cloth, 575,000,000 meters, up 15.9 per cent.
— Soft drinks and juice, 25,350,000 dozen, up 15.7 per cent.
— Electric power, 15,191,000,000 KWH, up 15 per cent.
— Steel bars and ingots, 1,021,000 metric tons, up 14.6 per cent.
— Natural gas, 1,044,000,000 cubic meters, up 13.7 per cent.
— Electrical components, US$78.7 million, up 13.3 per cent.
— Crude oil, 114,000 kiloliters, up 12.9 per cent.
— Salt, 600,000 metric tons, up 12.1 per cent.
— Sugar, 729,000 metric tons, up 10.8 per cent.
— Auto tires, 618,000 pieces, up 8.6 per cent.
— Pharmaceuticals, US$39.5 million, up 8 per cent.
— Refined petroleum products, 5,619,000 kilo liters, up 5.3 per cent.
— Canned foods, 16,658,000 cases, up 5 per cent.
— Alcoholic beverages, 1,853,000 hectoliters, up 3.9 per cent.
Taipower did business of US$205 million last year and showed a gross profit of US$2.5 million. Of expenditures, 41 per cent went for fuel. L. K. Chen, president of the company, pledged that power rates would not be increased this year.
Thermal power made up 80 per cent of generation and hydroelectricity the rest.
Chen said projects under construction or planned will increase installed capacity to 9,115 MW by December, 1980, up 336 per cent from the level at the end of 1971. Four nuclear plants are included. With the price of oil rising, nuclear power is becoming more competitive, Chen said.
The state-owned Chinese Petroleum Corporation will build a refinery in northern Taiwan at a cost of US$90 million. Construction is slated to begin next year and be completed by the end of 1975. Capacity will be 100,000 barrels of 42 gallons daily. The existing refinery at Kaohsiung has output of 220,000 barrels daily. CPC will order a 150,000-ton tanker from the Taiwan Shipbuilding Corporation.
Construction of a third naphtha cracking plant in the north will cost US$50 million. One plant is operating at Miaoli in central Taiwan and a third is under construction at Kaohsiung in the south.
Sale of the Taiwan Aluminum Corporation and BES Engineering Corporation to private interests is planned by the government. Other state-owned concerns may be sold subsequently.
Keelung's Tawulun Industrial District will open in January of 1973. The 28-hectare area is being developed at a cost of more than US$1 million. More than 100 small and medium plants will be accommodated.
Agricultural workers have dropped to 38.2 per cent of the labor force and will decline to 25 per cent in the next few years. Industrial workers have increased from 19.5 per cent to 30.3 per cent in the last decade. Employed persons totaled 3.6 million in 1961 and 4.5 million at the end of 1970. Unemployed decreased from 165,000 to 79,000 in the same period.
Dr. T. H. Shen, chairman of the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction, called for structural changes in agriculture to meet the challenges of an industrializing society. He urged (1) more attention to crops other than rice, (2) growing of feed crops to speed the development of animal husbandry, (3) encouragement of crops for frozen foods and the growing of flowers for export, (4) conducting of overseas market surveys and (5) strict quality control over farm exports.
The ruling Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) urged easier farm credit, encouragement of modernization, reduction in the cost of insecticides, coordination of production with marketing to increase the farmer's earning power, tax relief for farmers and government support of farmer's and fishermen's associations and marketing cooperatives.
Export earnings of US$300 million arc forecast this year from 15 special crops, including sugar cane, tea, bananas, pineapples, oranges, mushrooms and asparagus. Production goals in metric tons will include the following: sweet potatoes, 4,254,000; peanuts, 144,000; soybeans, 69,300; corn, 57,000; sugar cane, 874,205; tea, 27,691; tobacco, 15,957; jute, 20,290, citronella oil, 1,292; bananas, 491,868; pineapples, 558,680; oranges and tangerines, 319,725; mushrooms, 71,842; onions, 16,916; asparagus, 91,246; and vegetables, 445,370.
The Grains and Foods Development Foundation was established to increase production and stabilize marketing, promote land use, develop industries concerned and stimulate crop and livestock production. Importers of soybeans, corn, sorghum, rape seed and wheat will help support the organization.
Three Taiwan industrial leaders contributed US$250,000 to the Asian Vegetable Research Center now under construction at Shanhua in Tainan county. Donors were C. Y, Hsieh, board chairman of the Taiwan Canners' Association; S. G. Koo, board chairman of the Taiwan Mushroom Packers' United Export Corporation; and M. K. Yang, board chairman of the Tai wan Asparagus Canners' Association. Backers of the Center are the governments of the ROC, Thailand, Philippines, South Vietnam, South Korea, Japan and the Asian Development Bank.
Taiwan planted area will be down slightly to 784,000 hectares this year. Dr. Robert Lee, secretary-general of the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction, urged the use of slopelands for fruit and forage crops. Good drainage would facilitate the growth of both on hillsides, he said.
Dr. Lee was named a 1972 Eisenhower Fellow and left for the United States for six months' observation of universities, agricultural and livestock research services, livestock farms, animal hospitals and feed companies.
Taiwan's 1971-72 mushroom census showed plantings of nearly 99 million square feet.
Rice consumption is dropping and the sweet potato is becoming a livestock feed rather than a staple, according to a study of Taiwan dietary patterns. Consumption of meat has risen to 22.18 kilograms per person annually,
Reporting on a survey of Japanese banana markets, Li Lien-chun, cabinet minister without portfolio, said the Taiwan product is regarded as inferior in quality and packaging. He urged improvements and a distribution system which would give Taiwan a larger share of the Japanese vegetable market.
Five officials of the Kredit Fur Wiederaufbau surveyed plans of the Taiwan Railway Administration looking toward electrification. Their report will determine whether the company will advance loans for part of the cost.
A feasibility study of putting railroad tracks underground in Taipei is being made by the Ministry of Communications at the order of the Executive Yuan. Cost would be US$125 million. Earlier plans to elevate the tracks were rejected. With electrification, Taipei tracks will have to be raised, placed under ground or moved out of the city.
Construction of the first phase of the Taoyuan international airport is expected to begin next year and be completed in 1975. Cost is estimated at US$90 million for facilities adequate to handle 5 million passengers a year. Expansion would raise this to 15 million by the year 2,000.
Completion of the new Kaohsiung International Airport terminal is scheduled for March. Capacity will be 1,000 passengers and there will be parking for 250 cars. China Airlines has already begun scheduled service between Kaohsiung and Hongkong.
The Tourist Service Center at Taipei International Airport assisted 95,000 travelers last year. Sixty-eight thousand of them were Japanese.
With Hongkong fogged in, Taipei International Airport had a record traffic line-up of 24 jetliners carrying some 2,000 passengers in a single evening. About 1,000 passengers were lodged at hotels. All seats at the terminal were occupied.
China Airlines asked the United States for permission to fly to San Francisco by way of Honolulu. CAL planes fly to Los Angeles by way of Hawaii but the San Francisco service is nonstop from Tokyo.
Vice Minister of Communications Wang Chang-ching said demand for land transportation would more than double during the next decade. In the last 10 years, air travel grew fivefold and rail passenger volume increased three times. The number of autos per 100 persons trebled. Air traffic will increase by three and a half times in the coming decade, Wang predicted, and seaport cargo volume will climb by two and a half times.
Government continued with plans for construction of the North-South Freeway despite some criticism by legislators. One critic said the cost would be about a third more than estimated. Sections of the freeway in heavily populated areas will be built first. Work is already under way in the Taipei outskirts.
Work on the third East-West cross-island highway is nearing completion. Slated for opening to traffic in late June, the new road connects Yuching near Tainan with Haijui in Taitung county on the eastern slope of the Central Mountain Range. The 60 miles of road has been under construction since 1968. Cost is US$7.5 million.
The state-owned BES Engineering Corporation has earned more than US$20 million by building highways in Thailand during the last 11 years. BES is developing industrial districts and planning to build prefabricated housing.
Tourism brought 539,755 visitors to Taiwan last year for third place in Asia after Hongkong and Japan. The gain was 14.3 per cent over 1970. Earnings totaled US$93 million. The average tourist stayed 4.61 days in Taiwan and spent US$167.97.
Japanese led the list with 255,699 visitors, a gain of 44.1 per cent. There were 111,444 Americans, down 8.5 per cent. Overseas Chinese totaled 73,185. Then came Filipinos, 12,517; Australians, 9,835; and Malaysians, 8,910.
Men accounted for 78.59 per cent of tourists and the average age was lower. The tourist industry paid US$5.5 million into the government coffers in taxes and fees.
Tourism volume is expected to exceed 600,000 this year with earnings of US$120 million. Promotion campaigns are slated in Japan and Korea, North and Latin America, Australia and New Zealand, and Western Europe. Pan Shih-chia, board chairman of the China Tourism Development Corporation, predicted Taiwan tourism would reach 2 million by 1980.
Easing of entry-exit requirements for overseas Chinese was recommended to the Executive Yuan by the Ministries of Economic Affairs, Foreign Affairs and other interested government agencies.
Prompted by the tragic Seoul hotel fire, authorities checked on fire-fighting and escape facilities at 45 Taiwan tourist hotels. Most of the hotels received a clean bill of health. Locked exit doors and obstacles on fire escapes were the principal hazards.
A national domestic tourism campaign was launched by the Ministry of Communication's Tourism Bureau. Plans include an excursion service center, joint travel plans for railroad and highway transportation systems, special fares, longer seasons for beaches, group excursions over week-ends and the opening of more scenic places.
Minister of Interior Hsu Ching-chung said the government has begun studies looking to a national health insurance system.
Infant mortality declined from the 39 deaths in 1,000 births of 1959 to 17 out of 1,000 in 1970. Loss of mothers was down from 11 in 10,000 in 1959 to 4 in 10,000 in 1970.
Taipei's water supply will be fluoridated beginning July 1. Cost for the first year will be US$117,000.
Three hundred and thirty-four professors joined in a statement supporting the government but calling for reforms in bureaucracy and society itself. They recommended: all-out war on Communism, reform of parliamentary bodies, emphasis on youth in government service, stronger leadership, eradication of graft and corruption, replacement of the cheap labor policy through establishment of sophisticated industry, reform of education and development of science.
Similar expressions came from 568 participants in the Washington (D.C.) Conference of Patriotic and Anti-Communist Chinese Students in the United States. A program of political, diplomatic, economic and educational reforms was supported and the Association of Free Chinese in the United States established.
The China Youth Corps warned that 1972 may be a difficult year and urged young people to face reality, remain strong and resolute, and follow the leadership of President Chiang Kai-shek.
Dr. Chang Pao-shu, secretary-general of the Kuomintang, said plans for parliamentary reform should look to the participation of more "young intellectuals" in representative government.
Li Cheng-mo, chief of the provincial department of personnel, said there was interest in employing highly qualified young persons at that level of government. He said the delegation of more personnel authority was under consideration.
Two hundred and thirty-seven young businessmen have been given loans by the Youth Vocational Guidance Council since 1968. Applications totaled 2,379. The US$706,125 worth of loans led to the creation of 3,768 jobs. Of the 167 factories set up, one employs more than 400. Young men will be favored for space in the newly opened Pushin Industrial Center near Taoyuan.
Vice President C. K. Yen told a Sun Yat-sen memorial meeting that school enrollment reached 4,109,163 last fall, a gain of 2.94 per cent. Schools total 4,111 and one in every 3.5 persons is enrolled in one. Taipei's primary school attendance reached 99 per cent and 94.81 per cent of elementary graduates went on to junior high.
Dr. Wu Ta-you, chairman of the National Science Council, said the four-year science development plan was lagging because of the shortage of competent teachers, bureaucratic failures and use of funds for other purposes. NSC approved support of an African studies project at National Chengchi University, research on court precedents at National Taiwan University and construction of a 10-watt mobile nuclear reactor at National Tsinghua University.
Members of the Rocket Society at National Taiwan University sent four nine-foot rockets weighing from 50 to 70 pounds each to an altitude of nearly 20,000 feet in a test firing at Wangkung, Changhua county. The solid propellants had a maximum thrust of 8,000 pounds.
The Legislative Yuan approved revision of the civil service examination law so as to make more candidates eligible for top-level jobs. The Examination Yuan sent to the Legislative Yuan a recommendation for legislation which would give the heads of government departments a free hand to employ aides without examination.
From the Central Committee of the Kuomintang came recommendation that the personnel system be reformed so as to accelerate retirements and the recruitment of competent young men.
Taipei has more jobs than applicants. In the last two months of 1971, job openings totaled 3,660 and there were only 2,456 applications to the National Placement Center. More than a third of the openings were for mechanics.
Saluting Law Day, President Chiang urged simplification of lawsuits and their expeditious handling. He cited judicial personnel for a year of progress in crime prevention, carrying out of the commutation of sentence law, improvement of prison management and advances in the handling of juvenile cases. The rule of law, he said, is an effective weapon in the struggle against the Communists.
Control Yuan approval was given to President Chiang's appointment of Grand Justice Tien Chun-chin, 72, as president of the Judicial Yuan to succeed the late Hsieh Kuan-sheng. Tien has served as a member of the Control Yuan, minister of examination, chairman of the Commission on Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs and minister of interior.
Ice hockey has joined skiing as a sport on subtropical Taiwan. Young men trying to learn hockey at the Yuanshan ice rink in Taipei got a helping hand from Father Andre Lefebvre, S.J., a French Canadian. Problems are equipment, lack of competition and a practice period restricted to two hours early every Sunday morning.
The Ya Tung girls' basketball team of the Oriental Institute of Technology, Taiwan's best, went off to the Americas for a tour of nearly four months. Games were scheduled in California, Tennessee, New York, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina. Fourteen girls made the trip.
Two times Little League world champion in the last three years, the Republic of China will enter the Pony League world series at Gary, Indiana, August 14-19. Taiwan Television Enterprise has offered to pay the team's expenses or share the cost and televising with CTV and CTS. The Little League games have been carried live from Williamsport, Pa., for the last two years.
Taiwan had its sharpest earthquake since 1964. Falling rocks killed a student and injured a forestry worker. Five houses collapsed and four were damaged. Intensity was 5 on the Richter scale at Taitung, where windows were broken, and 4 at Taipei. The epicenter was placed at 8.75 miles southeast of Taitung on .the southeastern coast. The National Science Council is supporting a 10-year earthquake research program. A network of 20 telemetered seismic stations will be set up.
Direct telephone dialing for long-distance calls will be available throughout Taiwan by the end of 1976. Principal cities of the west coast will go on direct dialing this year.
Like Southern California, Taiwan frequently has unusual weather. Cold and warm fronts collided in Taipei and brought typhoon-like winds of up to 50 miles an hour. But the winter as a whole was one of the mildest in Taiwan history. The mercury rose to 85.6 degrees in Taipei January 23 to equal a 44-year-old record for the year's first month.
Taipei continues to sink into the marshy land on which it stands as a result of water withdrawal and the proliferation of high-rise buildings. The annual rate of subsidence is around a tenth of a meter annually. Surface water sources are being sought to reduce the reliance on well water.
The Taipei Press Council called on newspapers to reject ads masquerading as news stories. The council cited publication of such advertising for herb medicine practitioners.
An instruction from the Executive Yuan told the ministry of interior to look to the safety of buildings of more than five stories throughout Taiwan. Building codes will be revised.
Maj. Gen. Li Chang-hao, spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, said the ROC armed forces are maintaining a high level of combat readiness for both defensive and offensive missions. He said the Navy and Air Force are keeping a watchful eye on Communist military activities and enjoy combat superiority.
Weaponry has been modernized by Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, he said, and the Combined Service Forces is prepared to meet all supply and maintenance demands.
General Li said military information from the Chinese mainland indicates that strife between the "people's liberation army" and Communist Party is deepening. The purge of Lin Piao appears to be a curtain raiser to new, larger and bloodier conflict, he said.
Minister of National Defense Huang Chieh flew to Kinmen to convey New Year's greetings of President Chiang to defenders of the offshore island group. He visited both Big and Little Kinmen in the company of Lt. Gen. Liang Hsiao-huang, deputy director of political affairs for MND. He talked with soldiers manning pillboxes, inspected civil defense organizations and met with overseas Chinese leaders from San Francisco who were touring the island complex.
Kinmen defenses also were inspected by Maj. Gen. John W. Barnes, the new chief of the American Military Assistance Advisory Group on Taiwan. He was accompanied by General Cheng Wei-yuan, deputy chief of staff. It was Barnes' first visit to Kinmen.
Madame Chiang Kai-shek instructed the Chinese Women's Anti-Aggression League, of which she is president, to allocate special funds to needy dependent!» of military personnel for the Chinese New Year season.
The Retired Servicemen's Engineering Agency undertook construction projects involving more than US$45 million last year. In a report to the annual meeting of the Vocational Assistance Commission for Retired Servicemen, Retser said it resettled 5,478 former servicemen last year. The agency has 14 engineering teams, four factories, 40 provisional engineering offices and two overseas branches. Projects include roads, bridges, dams and reservoirs, harbors and airports.
VACARS said that as of the end of 1971, it had assisted 218,542 retired servicemen. The agency, founded in 1954, has established 40 productive enterprises. Vice President C. K. Yen cited the national service of the ex-servicemen.
Taipei was host to the Fourth East Asian Altaistic Conference at Chengchi's Center for Public and Business Administration Education. Sponsors were National Chengchi University, National Taiwan University and the National Palace Museum. Participants came from Japan, South Korea, the United States and the Republic of China. Earlier conferences were held in Kyoto, Seoul and Taipei.
Japanese and Korean scholars had asked to have the fourth meeting in Taiwan because of the Altaistic holdings of the National Palace Museum and the presence of such peoples as Manchus, Mongols, Tibetans, Turks and Uighurs in Taiwan.
Forty-four scholars attended the meeting and heard papers on such subjects as fire rituals in Inner Mongolia, Outer Mongolia of the 16th and 17th centuries and the relationship of the Uighurs to establishment of the Yuan dynasty.
Eighteen Japanese historians headed by Prof. Katsumi Mori of Kyoiku University and Prof. Tadao Sakai of Chuo University came to Taipei for three seminars with Chinese counterparts on Sino-Japanese cultural interflow, Ch'ing and Ming dynasty history, modern Chinese history, Taoism and Buddhism. Presidential Secretary-General Chang Chun met with the group on behalf of President Chiang. The seminars took place at Liberty House, the College of Chinese Culture and Ministry of Education.
Speaking under sponsorship of the Bureau of Cultural Affairs, Prof. Chao Ya-po, chairman of the Philosophy Department of National Chengchi University, said that the Chinese cultural renaissance requires an infusion of new blood and the elimination of defects. He said that too much of the new Chinese culture exists only on paper and has not yet been expressed in action. He urged new investigations, studies and conceptualizations.
Students of National Chengchi University have made new finds of an ancient civilization at Taitung on the southeast coast. Stone implements and pottery show excellent workmanship, according to Yuan Chang-jui, an assistant professor who headed the team.
Duke Ellington and his orchestra came to Taipei for a two-hour concert before a jam-packed civic auditorium. Sponsors were the China Youth Corps and American Embassy. There were three encores by the 16-man band. Ellington was at the piano.
Taiwan's export of entertainers continued as a 50-girl troupe left for tours of Hongkong and Japan. Be fore departure, the group gave a performance at the Armed Forces Cultural Activities Center for the benefit of winter relief.
Paul Wang, director of the Bureau of Cultural Relations, announced a "Music Serves Society" program involving 1,000 students from 13 colleges and universities. Fifty-two shows were planned throughout the island, many of them in remote mountain and coastal communities.
Back from Japan to make another movie was Judy Ongg, Taiwan-born singer and actress. She will star in "Something Priceless," a production of the Central Motion Picture Corporation. It will be her fourth Mandarin movie.
Approved by the Central Bank of China was a four- point measure to cope with international monetary readjustments and help stabilize the domestic price structure. Governor Yu Kuo-hua announced that the bank would:
— Increase money available for letter of credit loans to authorized banks from US$4 million to US$6 million. The discount rate was lowered from 7.5 to 6.5 per cent.
— Reduction of the deposit requirement for letters of credit from 30 to 20 per cent. The deposit for post-dated letters will be cut from 15 to 10 per cent.
— Waiver of bank guarantees for down payments on imported machinery and heavy equipment. The minimum down payment was cut from 20 to 15 per cent.
— Restoration of capital loans to the mining industry.
The First National City Bank's Taipei branch reported that the New Taiwan dollar remained a strong currency and that devaluation would promote exports. However, the bank said, importers "face new headaches" as a result of the Japanese yen's revaluation upward.
The London Financial Times gave kudos to the NT$ as one of the strongest currencies of the less developed countries. The paper praised "the continuing high quality of the (ROC's) economic management."
At the request of local businessmen, the Central Bank ordered resumption of one-day check clearance.
The Central Bank invoked a new single-clearance system in early January. As originally contemplated, checks would have been deposited one day and cleared the next. Businessmen said this would create difficulties and one-day clearance system was resumed.
All retail businesses of Taipei and Taiwan province are now required to display the prices of merchandise. This does not mean that prices are firmly fixed, however, and bargaining is still the rule at most shops. The bigger department stores do not permit bargaining on low-cost items but give premiums and stage guessing contests to attract customers.